Eintracht Frankfurt crush Bayern Munich 5-1 in first league defeat of the season
Sign up now: Get the biggest sports news in your inbox
Eintracht Frankfurt's Hugo Larsson celebrates after scoring their third goal against Bayern.
PHOTO: REUTERS
BERLIN – Bayern Munich suffered a jolt to their title defence, after losing a league game for the first time this season in their 5-1 loss to a “merciless” Eintracht Frankfurt on Dec 9, while RB Leipzig triumphed 3-2 at 10-man Borussia Dortmund.
In a wet and wild contest in Frankfurt, the hosts raced to an extraordinary 3-0 first-half lead, with Omar Marmoush, Eric Junior Dina Ebimbe and Hugo Larsson scoring the goals as Dino Toppmoller’s side outmuscled a timid Bayern.
Said Toppmoller: “We demanded a reaction from the boys. I wouldn’t put it down to the last few weeks, we lost four games in a row and played really badly in the last two games. We talked about that, too. And today, we showed a reaction.”
Joshua Kimmich dragged Bayern back into the match just before half-time but French midfielder Ebimbe had other ideas, capping a scintillating counter-attack after a mistake by Dayot Upamecano to make it four.
Ansgar Knauff added a fifth to put the game out of reach for Thomas Tuchel’s side to complete a memorable performance for Frankfurt, who become the first team to score five goals against Bayern in the first 60 minutes of a league game since they themselves achieved the feat in 1975.
A stunned Tuchel said after the game that his side were punished by a team who were ruthless in front of goal.
“We didn’t defend consistently and were punished mercilessly,” he told German broadcaster ARD as his side stayed second behind leaders Bayer Leverkusen. “That’s why this result is very difficult to digest on the scoreboard. We deserved to lose. Not 5-1, but we deserved to lose.”
The result could be good news for Manchester United, who play Bayern next on Dec 12 in the Champions League, with the Red Devils’ knockout stage hopes hanging by a thread. United themselves crashed to a 3-0 home defeat by Bournemouth
In a game contested between two sides in the chasing pack, Leipzig beat Dortmund in an absorbing contest at Signal Iduna Park.
Dortmund were dealt an early blow with Mats Hummels’ red card and the visitors went on to take the lead in the 32nd minute through a Ramy Bensebaini own goal.
Dortmund clawed their way back through Niklas Sule’s close-range finish on the stroke of half-time – but Austrian forward Christoph Baumgartner tapped in to put Leipzig back in front early in the second half.
Danish striker Yussuf Poulsen struck in stoppage time, and despite Niclas Fullkrug’s late header briefly giving Dortmund hope, Leipzig claimed the win to open up a gap of four points to fifth-placed Dortmund.
“These were important three points today. Very hard-earned,” Leipzig coach Marco Rose, formerly in charge of Dortmund, told ARD.
Leipzig’s Yussuf Poulsen struck as the clock ticked into injury time to make it three goals and three points.
PHOTO: AFP
Dortmund coach Edin Terzic said: “It’s not easy to play against RB Leipzig, especially when you’re outnumbered.
“You saw that we got off to a really good start, were very dominant... after the red card, it was a different game.” AFP
